Old tuners get a modern tech tune-up

Technology advances at an alarming rate these days -- in fact, since you began reading this sentence, your computer was eclipsed in processing power by a robotic pet dog that doubles as a toaster. Damn you Japan! Making old audio tech relevant again: The Deco Blaster.

Built by a Kiwi who's spent the past three years "building an amazing treehouse", TDB's a collection of one-of-a-kind, '60s-era wooden radios retrofitted with iPod docks, modern speakers, and controls that combine the "style and authenticity of yesterday with the technology and hi-fi of today", so bring it on, Auto-Tuned Bing Crosby! Sourced from eBay, each gutted tuner receives an auxiliary-input-equipped acoustic panel on the back to ensure "warm sound", a plastic dock dropped into the top, and a Gear4 HouseParty 5-speaker system, which presumably has buttons for both Play and Kid. Current pieces include the cherry Familial Blaster, with dual analog knobs and vertical dial display; the four-knobbed, pine Grammont, which could easily be mistaken for a wooden toaster oven; and a large mahogany number with three shiny black knobs named the Big Daddy Blaster, which exclusively plays clips of LA Times critic Kenneth Turan's movie review.

If you don't see one you dig you can even shoot him an email to request a custom setup. Just remember, the alarming speed with which technology advances doesn't apply to the shipment of it halfway across the globe.